Stephanie Daniel: Actor became the definitive voice of Phryne Fisher

Stephanie Daniel was an actor known for her one-woman show about Jane Austen, An Uneventful Life, and as the audiobook voice of Phryne Fisher and all the other characters in Kerry Greenwood's books about the elegant 1920s Melbourne sleuth.

Daniel, born on March 3, 1947, trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London on leaving school, before working in repertory in Britain. She toured Austria in 1970 with a Shakespeare for schools project, before moving to Munich in 1971 to work on dubbing European films into English. She had a small role in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and was the make-up and camera double for Liza Minnelli in Cabaret.

After meeting partner David Mann in 1972, she moved with him to Britain in 1976 and then to Montreal in 1980. Mann quipped that actors and engineers are not normal pairings, but their love affair lasted more than 40 years until her death.

Daniel worked in theatre in Montreal and moved to Melbourne in 1984, taking roles in Neighbours and a small part in The Castle.

She continued her voiceover work, setting up her own business, Children's Talking Books, recording stories written by Australian and New Zealand authors, because previously all children's stories were recorded in American English. She was a much-admired and valued professional narrator and voice actor for Vision Australia, CBM and Bolinda Books.

She wrote as well as performed her play about Jane Austen.

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Daniel became the artistic director of Beleura House and Garden in Mornington and rejuvenated Phillip Island's Offshore Theatre, where she lived, and directed an acting course and annual concert at the University of the Third Age.

Just before she died, Daniel learnt she was to receive the 2014 Bass Coast Arts and Cultural Ambassador award on Australia Day. After her death, David and their daughter, Emma, accepted the award.

Daniel recorded most of the Phryne Fisher books by Greenwood, on which the ABC TV series Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries was based. Greenwood described Daniel as the definitive voice of Fisher. ''Stephanie will be remembered as the voice of Phryne,'' she said. ''She had the perfect accent, the fine intonation, and a wicked skill for mimicry.

''Whenever Bolinda was making a new audio book, Stephanie would ring me with a list of questions a mile long, make me pronounce the languages and sing the songs, and record it all to reproduce in her trademark velvety tone.

''Everyone loved her work. When I announced her death on my Facebook page, more than 4000 people saw it, and many wrote in to deplore the loss of such an artist. I cannot imagine who could even begin to take her place.''